Surrogate approach to assess social resilience in disaster management

Abstract

This thesis presents an innovative approach to assess social resilience in disaster management using surrogate approach. Surrogates are explored by identifying key facets of target indicators, when target indicators are complex and/or not feasible to measure directly. The existing social resilience measurements are not always practical or effective due to conceptual and methodical constraints. This thesis devised and tested an integrated surrogate development framework to conceptualize, identify, and evaluate surrogates for assessing social resilience. The findings will guide policy makers and practitioners, particularly at the local and sub-national levels, to overcome the existing challenges in resilience assessment in disaster management.